Khan (Character)
Khan (Хан in Russian, pronounced Han), is a wandering soldier, philosopher, and an associate of the rangers. Overview As the player discovers, Khan in the video game is a mysterious character, though he is even more so in the novel. Khan believes himself to be the last incarnation of the mighty Mongolian war-chief Genghis Khan and he seems to possess a sixth sense, although it may just be his intuition. He tends to believe in one thing and suddenly he doesn’t believe in it anymore; he talks like an agnostic and cynic, however, he is well familiar with mystic phenomena in the metro, or at least claims to be. He possesses a very powerful and charismatic personality, and characterizes himself as a “wolf among jackals.” With his aid, Artyom manages to survive a trip through a ghost-occupied and very deadly tunnel. The questions Khan asks Artyom will echo in his mind multiple times. In the video game Khan and Artyom first travel though a tunnel where "neither man nor beast walk," as Khan puts it. The tunnel is full of ghosts, and Artyom discovers the rumors of the 'singing pipes' to be true. Bourbon also references the 'singing pipes' upon leaving Riga Station as "just a load of bullshit". Khan is revealed to have been the only surviving member of a group of men guarding a barricade near the end of the tunnel a long time ago. Upon arriving at said barricade, Khan tells Artyom to remain still and stay at his back. Khan begins to chant something that makes the ghosts of his former comrades move and allow you to pass. He asks that you not question what he chanted, and forget seeing or hearing what he did. During the Ghosts level, Khan gives Artyom several survival tips, and speaks about a variety of legends of how everything came to be. He is last encountered at Sparta Base. Khan seems to be one of the few people that believe that the Dark Ones have a right to live. He is also notable for believing that nothing in the world truly is evil, it is just its nature and not man's place to judge. Khan's chapters of the games explores the more mystical and darker parts of the metro. It features ghosts, deadly anomalies and hordes of mutants attacking human settlements. Khan's chapters are often considered some of the most, if not the most eerie and scary part of the games. Metro: Last Light Khan is the first person Artyom meets in the game, waking Artyom up from a bad dream as he is sleeping in D6. Khan tells Artyom that he spotted a surviving Dark One in the ruins of the Botanical Gardens. As Khan is telling Artyom about the Dark One, Ulman passes through the hallway and glances into Artyom's room and brashly tells Khan to leave D6. Ulman agrees to take Khan and Artyom to talk to Miller. Khan informs Miller about the Dark One and proposes that him and Artyom should go and look for it, Miller agrees but assigns a sniper along, his daughter Anna to kill the Dark One. Khan objects and is restrained and escorted out by the guards on Miller's orders, Artyom and Anna continue the mission on their own. Later Khan, along with Hanza police, saves Artyom and Anna at the exit of Oktobraskaya. Upon being released from quarantine, Khan takes Artyom to a supernatural place in the Metro which he calles the River of Fate. The River of Fate brings much of Artyom's deeper memories to surface. Artyom is shown a vision of the Dark One on a train and he and Artyom set out to save him. Upon reaching the train, Artyom jumps abord to save the Dark One as Khan is seen being led down a different path by the rails. Artyom brings the Dark One to Saint Basils' Cathedral where Khan and Miller are waiting for him. Miller is about to kill the Dark One but Khan convinces him otherwise. Khan and Artyom are shown a vision of the Dark Ones trapped in D6 and urges Miller to open the door to set them free. Khan, Artyom, the Dark One and Miller travel to Polis for the peace conference between the Metro factions is being held. Khan interrupts Comrade Moskvin in mid speech calling him a liar and uses the Dark One to open Moskvin's mind and reveal Korbut's plans to attack D6. Khan joins Miller, Artyom and the rest of the Rangers in defending D6 from the Red onslaught. Khan dies with Artyom and the rest of the Rangers in the C'est la vie ending. In the Redemption ending he survives the battle but mysteriously disappears after the battle. In the Novel Unlike in the game, Khan doesn't have a large role in it, more or less he is mentioned more in the book. In the book he is first mentioned by Zhenya as the magician in the metro. In the novel, he helps Artyom at a diseased station, he then escorts Artyom and Ace (a book only character, possibly only in the English translation) to the next station, after that the Nazi's attack, and after words Artyom is separated from him and Ace, but Khan does find Artyom's home station and gets a message to Artyom regarding his decisions in life as well as Artyom's mission. According to Artyom, in the English translation of the novel Khan, looked very similar to his in - game model. In the novel "the man was over fifty, but he looked surprisingly fresh and robust. His arms, which were supporting Artyom the time of his description, were firm and didn't once tremble with fatigue the whole way back. His short hair was turning grey and his little sculpted beard surprised Artyom - the man looked to well groomed for the metro, especially given the godforsaken place where it seemed this man (Khan) lived". Also in the novel Khan uses a "strange gun", which could quite well be the Helsing from the game. In the novel, it appears that Khan makes Artyom nervous, considering the fact Artyom wanted the conversation with him to end as soon as possible. It appears Khan has a gift when it comes to convincing people to do something: when him and Artyom were in a diseased station Artyom saw a man was about to be shot for being suspected of carrying the disease. Artyom tried to save the man but Khan stopped him with just the look on his face and a few words. Also when the people of the station were confused on what to do after this event, Khan convinced them to leave the station with him and Artyom without an argument, and lastly Khan managed to scare Ace into surrendering to Khan when he (Ace) aimed his pistol at Artyom. Personality Khan considers himself "a wolf among jackals" and considers Artyom a "wolf pup". Khan seems to be quite spiritual, as he knows a few hymns to repel the ghosts. He also speaks cryptically to Artyom throughout the game, and one of the things Khan says will come to Artyom's mind depending on whether or not Artyom has been acting morally throughout the game. He is quite charismatic and knows his way around words, and speaks like a true philosopher at times. He generally accepts the present situation no matter how grim or hopeless it may be, which could also indicate that he is in atonement with the new and hostile reality that he and the rest of mankind now live in. Khan does not believe in one universal time for all Metro system, backing his theory up with the statement that the Sun was the only worthy representative of Time, once the humans had cut ties with the Sun, continuation of keeping the same time everywhere is meaningless. Furthermore Khan adds that for some people time goes by faster (or slower) than for the others and by that standards people should time their own time. Trivia 'In the Novel' * Khan calls himself the last reincarnation of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan was the founder, Khan (ruler) and Khagan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. It is possible that because of this that the original concept art of Khan depicted him as being more Mongolian in appearance. * Khan states that he is only known as Wolf in some stations. * Khan states that his surname is Aitmatov. * When first meeting Artyom, Khan was wielding a "strange" gun in one hand. He never pulls it out again instead using Artyom's new Kalash, the one he got from Bourbon, or the pistol he took from Ace. In all instances he never fires a single shot winning with intimidation alone. * In the Novel Khan is a smoker. 'In Metro 2033' * In the Russian versions of both games, Khan is called Хан - which is actually pronounced Han, not Khan. In the Polish versions of the games, Khan is also known as Han. In both cases, it is most likely due to the fact that the "Khan" in Genghis Khan is written and pronounced differently in some Slavic languages (Russian: Чингисхан - Polish: Czyngis-chan; both are pronounced Chingis Han, not Genghis Khan). * The player can earn quite a few positive moral points towards the end from Khan. Simply do everything he asks the way he asked it, and you'll earn Moral Points (Example: Listen to the pipes, Avoid Ghosts - don't shoot them, don't shoot the nosalises when the Anomaly is present) * When finding Khan in Sparta Base, he tells you the quote that can be heard near the end of the game, depending on Artyom's morality. This quote is still said even if the player does not speak to Khan. Regardless of the moral points you have, you can always listen to him in the Sparta Base, which will give you more moral points. * If the player chooses stealth approach in the level Dry, Khan will assist Artyom by silently killing bandits with his Hellsing, and the arrows can be scavenged for free. * Khan, along with Bourbon, Miller, Ulman and Pavel is considered one of the main companions of the videogame Metro 2033 * The very last finishing lines of Metro 2033 game's "enlightened ending" were originally said by Khan in the "Metro 2033" novel. ** The game further accentuates Khan's presence in the ending if player has enough moral points to get enlightened ending. In it, the player will hear Khan's speech after Artyom survives the dark one's attack at the end of Ethereal. * Khan's hymns in the level Ghost is Latin. Khan encourages the ghost to 'walk towards the light' (rough translation). * Khan and Artyom are the only two known characters to have used pneumatic weapons. 'In Metro Last Light' * In Last Light Khan uses a variant of the Ashot unavailable to players. * In a lot of promotional images Khan is shown with a VSV yet he never uses one in the game. * In early builds Khan had a Triquetra tattoo known as "Trinity Knot" on his left hand. In the final build of the game this was changed to a stylised Hand of God tattoo on his right hand which is an ancient slavic symbol. * In one of his notes, Artyom wonders about the true nature of Khan, a travelling philosopher, a wizard or a guest from other dimensions. * During the level Chase he destroys a railcar with an Ashot with only one shot. * Despite being a smoker in the novel he consults Ulman on his smoking habit. * Khan seems to be distrusted by the Rangers, possibly because of his opinions on the Dark Ones. Artyom himself states that he doesn't trust him. ** Khan himself is probably not a full time member of the Order, since he lacks any kind of uniforms and Ulman urges him to leave D6 since it is a "classified and Khan shouldn't be there". Although Khan is seen sharing the Order's duty and tasks such as protecting Cursed and helping at Oktyabrskaya. Gallery KhanConceptArt.jpg|Concept art of Khan Cursed_beta_0004.jpg|Khan from Metro 2033 beta Khan_metro2034.jpg|Khan from Metro Last Light alpha Khan_MLL_new_looks.jpg|Final iteration of Khan in Metro Last Light Khan 654.jpg Khan_LL.jpg|A screenshot of Khan in Last Light 2013-05-18_00109.jpg MLL Khan FullBody.jpg MLL Khan Quarentine.jpg MLL Khan D6.jpg MLL Khan Profile.jpg MLL Khan Miller.jpg MLL Khan.jpg Khan LL 1.jpg|Ditto 3YCZsrd7o2k.jpg Khan MLL Promo.jpeg 2013-05-28 00003.jpg|Khan and Ulman Category:Characters Category:Metro 2033 Video Game Category:Metro Last Light Category:Metro 2033 Novel